Excerpt

I’ve become a prisoner in my own body, held captive by my thoughts. Without a TV, there’s not much to do besides write, draw, and think. When I run out of paper, I get antsy, and I talk to Dad, praying he’s watching over me. Because, no matter how hard I try to block out the noise, the inside of my brain feels like a cluttered junk drawer full of odds and ends that don’t matter. A bunch of trash that’s stuck in a small space with no purpose.
Sometimes, the voices are so loud, I pace in circles until the ratty carpet fibers stop laughing at me. If I don’t, I’ll end up in the bathroom with the blade against my thigh. On days when I can’t get the chatter to stop, I run the smooth metal over my skin and watch the blood seep out.
Blood—the lifeline that unites a family.
All my family is dead or gone.
God, I hate the sight of blood. The smell. The consistency. The way it smears and stains everything it touches. But, once the blade touches my skin, I forget about Tess and how little I have. Suddenly, that little cut is all I can think about, and I love the way it silences the screaming inside my head.
For those few seconds of peace, I forget that Dad’s not coming back, that Trey is gone, and how Tess isn’t ever going to be the mother I need her to be. I’m no longer lonely and afraid. I’m the girl who looks in the mirror and likes what she sees.
I am me. Nobody else.

About Gia Riley

Author Gia Riley has been in love with writing romance since high school when she took her very first creative writing class. From the small but mighty state of Delaware, she’s a country girl at heart, traveling back to her roots in Pennsylvania as often as she can.

While New Adult and Contemporary romance have been her passion, she’s dabbled with more erotic plotlines lately, enjoying discovering the sexier side of love with each story she pens. After all, she’s a lover of all things romance – a firm believer that everyone deserves their

happily ever after no matter what it takes to get there.

When she’s not writing, you can find her roaming the aisles of Kirkland’s, up to her elbows in Play-doh, or trying to hunt down spoilers for her favorite reality television show.

Given that this is the first part of a duet, I’m not really sure what I think...
Wrong Side of Heaven focuses on 17 year old Winnie whose life has been anything but easy. She’s a character that you want to reach into the book and just hug. She’s known such little kindness in life that she doesn’t know how to handle what she is given.
Jasper is a 17 year old coworker/classmate and I couldn’t help but respect him and appreciate how he looked after Winnie.
Trey is more of an enigma and I worried that he would really be good for our girl...
This is a pretty dark book, but very compelling. Winnie’s struggles and fears are palpable and more than once i wished I could help her. It really made me wonder how many people live that life and we never notice.
A completely unexpected twist leave us hanging and anxious to see how this story will resolve itself.